Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover: A review
(Note: My review of The Poisonwood Bible was originally published on Goodreads on July 24, 2009.)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am old enough to sort of remember the events that are at the center of the book. I remember the newscasts at the time having stories about the declaration of the independence of the Congo and about the election of Patrice Lumumba. Of course, all the newscasts gave the American "slant" to the story. They were all about how this action impacted us. Little notice was given to how it impacted the people who were actually living there.
That much I can remember. I can also remember the announcement sometime later that Lumumba was dead and the turmoil that followed that death, but although I was old enough to hear the news, I was still too young and naive to have much understanding of what was going on.
Years later, when I was older and a little better able to understand, I remember the Church committee's investigation. By that time, Watergate had happened and my cynicism about government had grown by leaps and bounds. I was appalled by the findings of how our government had interfered in the affairs of a sovereign country and the chaos that we had helped to bring about in that part of the world. But I wasn't really surprised.
It had been a long time since I had given much though to this issue - so many other atrocities had intervened in my consciousness - when I picked up this book. I remember hearing about the book when it first came out and I knew that it had been greatly acclaimed, but somehow I had missed reading it at that time. But when I saw it on a table at Barnes and Noble, along with The Bean Trees, it seemed like the right time to pick them both up. So I did. I'm very glad that I did.
This is a terrific book, a mesmerizing read. I think of it now as something of a cross between The Mosquito Coast and Heart of Darkness, but, in truth, it is a unique perspective that stands on its own.
The year is 1959 and a Baptist evangelist, Nathan Price, a man terribly damaged by his World War II experiences, has determined to take his family of a wife and four young daughters to the Congo, there to be a missionary and save the souls of those poor benighted (as he thinks) natives. The family, especially Nathan, has no real understanding or appreciation of the culture that they are going into. Indeed, Nathan plans to plant his own culture, which he believes to be far superior, there, without regard to the wishes or feelings of the people he is determined to "save".
The story of everything that happened after Nathan's ill-considered decision is told in the unique voices of the five women - Orleanna, the wife; Rachel, the oldest daughter; Leah and Adah, the twins - one perfect, one crooked; and Ruth May, the baby of the family. It is a tour de force of storytelling.
Each of the family members' various reactions to the landscape and people of Africa are at the heart of this story. From Nathan's rejection of and refusal to compromise with - or even to listen to - the people's ideas and their mores worked out in the jungle over thousands of years; to Leah's initial attempts to follow in her father's footsteps only to have the dawning of awareness that perhaps there is another way of being and that the African culture may have merit, to, eventually, her acceptance of Africa and the African understanding of the world.
None of the Price family is left unchanged by their experiences and they will live the rest of their lives, however long they might be, touched and marked by those experiences. They will never get Africa out of their blood.
The prose in this book is lyrical. I found myself again and again underlining passages that I wanted to return to later. I don't usually do that with books. Kingsolver is a very good writer. I have read some of her essays before but never one of her books. I will be reading more and I hope to return to this one and read it again. It is that good.
View all my reviews
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am old enough to sort of remember the events that are at the center of the book. I remember the newscasts at the time having stories about the declaration of the independence of the Congo and about the election of Patrice Lumumba. Of course, all the newscasts gave the American "slant" to the story. They were all about how this action impacted us. Little notice was given to how it impacted the people who were actually living there.
That much I can remember. I can also remember the announcement sometime later that Lumumba was dead and the turmoil that followed that death, but although I was old enough to hear the news, I was still too young and naive to have much understanding of what was going on.
Years later, when I was older and a little better able to understand, I remember the Church committee's investigation. By that time, Watergate had happened and my cynicism about government had grown by leaps and bounds. I was appalled by the findings of how our government had interfered in the affairs of a sovereign country and the chaos that we had helped to bring about in that part of the world. But I wasn't really surprised.
It had been a long time since I had given much though to this issue - so many other atrocities had intervened in my consciousness - when I picked up this book. I remember hearing about the book when it first came out and I knew that it had been greatly acclaimed, but somehow I had missed reading it at that time. But when I saw it on a table at Barnes and Noble, along with The Bean Trees, it seemed like the right time to pick them both up. So I did. I'm very glad that I did.
This is a terrific book, a mesmerizing read. I think of it now as something of a cross between The Mosquito Coast and Heart of Darkness, but, in truth, it is a unique perspective that stands on its own.
The year is 1959 and a Baptist evangelist, Nathan Price, a man terribly damaged by his World War II experiences, has determined to take his family of a wife and four young daughters to the Congo, there to be a missionary and save the souls of those poor benighted (as he thinks) natives. The family, especially Nathan, has no real understanding or appreciation of the culture that they are going into. Indeed, Nathan plans to plant his own culture, which he believes to be far superior, there, without regard to the wishes or feelings of the people he is determined to "save".
The story of everything that happened after Nathan's ill-considered decision is told in the unique voices of the five women - Orleanna, the wife; Rachel, the oldest daughter; Leah and Adah, the twins - one perfect, one crooked; and Ruth May, the baby of the family. It is a tour de force of storytelling.
Each of the family members' various reactions to the landscape and people of Africa are at the heart of this story. From Nathan's rejection of and refusal to compromise with - or even to listen to - the people's ideas and their mores worked out in the jungle over thousands of years; to Leah's initial attempts to follow in her father's footsteps only to have the dawning of awareness that perhaps there is another way of being and that the African culture may have merit, to, eventually, her acceptance of Africa and the African understanding of the world.
None of the Price family is left unchanged by their experiences and they will live the rest of their lives, however long they might be, touched and marked by those experiences. They will never get Africa out of their blood.
The prose in this book is lyrical. I found myself again and again underlining passages that I wanted to return to later. I don't usually do that with books. Kingsolver is a very good writer. I have read some of her essays before but never one of her books. I will be reading more and I hope to return to this one and read it again. It is that good.
View all my reviews
Monday, August 4, 2014
The Mugger by Ed McBain: A review
The Mugger by Ed McBainMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book was of interest to me mostly for its historical perspective. It was published in 1956, the second in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series of police procedurals. It seemed very dated to me, even more so than the first in the series, Cop Hater, but, as I kept reminding myself, it was of its historical period and this is, I think, the way that male writers of thrillers or crime fiction wrote in the mid-20th century - with gender and racial stereotypes intact and unchallenged.
Even acknowledging all that though, I still found myself irritated by the expression of those attitudes. I was especially offended by the descriptions of the women characters in the book - all breasts and bottoms and legs. Especially legs. Apparently McBain was a leg man. Not that such attitudes aren't still apparent among certain writers today, but, on the whole, they do a better job of disguising it.
The story here is as the title says, The Mugger. This particular mugger preys on women who are out walking alone at night. As the tale begins, there have already been several incidents and the city is on edge because of them.
No one has been seriously hurt in the muggings. The mugger comes at his victims from behind in the darkness. He attacks them, hits them and warns them to be quiet. He grabs their purses and then, while they are on the ground, he bows from the waist and says, "Clifford thanks you, madam," and makes his escape. But then he hits one victim too hard and puts her in the hospital. Then a young woman, only seventeen years old, is killed in what appears to be a similar incident and the police search turns deadly earnest as they search for a murderer.
Before the young woman was murdered, a young police patrolman named Bert Kling was asked by a friend to talk to his sister-in-law. The man's wife is worried about her sister and thinks she may be in trouble. She hopes that the teenager might open up to Bert. The plan doesn't work, however. The girl will not talk to him even though he can see that she is very troubled. He goes on his way and the next thing he hears is that the girl, Jeannie, has been killed - perhaps by the mugger.
Bert feels a responsibility and determines to investigate, even though it's not his case and, since he's only a uniformed patrolman, he doesn't really have any right to be involved. But he is very ambitious to become a detective and he wants to bring the girl's killer to justice. And - spoiler alert - he manages to do just that in what is clearly meant to be a surprising twist. In fact, the solution seemed pretty clear to me fairly early in the book.
With this series, Ed McBain set the pattern for many police procedurals to come and he's still inspiring writers of the genre today. He continued writing the series right up until his death in 2005 and I think it will be very interesting to see how his writing evolved over those many years. As I stated earlier, these first books seem hopelessly dated in attitude and outlook and yet I suspect they are true reflections of their time. I would assume that, throughout the years, the books continued to hold up a mirror to their times, and that will be a worthwhile theme for the reader to pursue.
View all my reviews
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Poetry Sunday: Highwayman
I've had this song rattling around in my brain for the last couple of weeks, so it's time to get it out! Maybe if I share it with you as my poem of the week...
It's an old Jimmy Webb song that was very popular back in the day. That day was the late '70s, early '80s. It was recorded by a number of artists, including Webb himself in 1977, but the most popular cover of it was probably that done by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson in 1984.
It's an unusual lyric about reincarnation - not a subject that is often written about in a pop lyric - but for those of us who believe that nothing is ever really destroyed but only changed, matter into energy or energy into matter, it is very meaningful.
As a bonus, here is that most famous cover of the song, in a performance recorded in 1990.
It's an old Jimmy Webb song that was very popular back in the day. That day was the late '70s, early '80s. It was recorded by a number of artists, including Webb himself in 1977, but the most popular cover of it was probably that done by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson in 1984.
It's an unusual lyric about reincarnation - not a subject that is often written about in a pop lyric - but for those of us who believe that nothing is ever really destroyed but only changed, matter into energy or energy into matter, it is very meaningful.
Highwayman
by Jimmy Webb
I was a highwayman. Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive.
I was a sailor. I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide.
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still.
I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around..I'll always be around..and around and around and
around and around
I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again..
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive.
I was a sailor. I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide.
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still.
I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around..I'll always be around..and around and around and
around and around
I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again..
Cash and Jennings are gone now, of course. And yet they are still around...and around...and around...
Saturday, August 2, 2014
This week in birds - #119
A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:
*~*~*~*
The makers of the rodenticide d-Con have agreed to pull their super-toxic products from retail shelves by early next year. This is a victory for conservation groups that have been campaigning for years to get this accomplished. The problem is that the product kills rodents very effectively, but often as those rodents are dying or dead, they are picked up and devoured by raptors or other predators and the poisons then kill them as well.
*~*~*~*
And we know that poisons can persist in the environment for a very long time. DDT was banned in the United States more than forty years ago and yet it is still killing birds in Michigan. Presence of the poison is attributed to a chemical-plant-turned-Superfund site in the area.
*~*~*~*
It was hoped that rains generated by El Nino this year might help to break the long and severe drought being suffered by California, but those hopes have pretty much been dashed. If the rains were coming, they should have arrived by now, but there is no rain in sight and the drought continues unabated.
*~*~*~*
Artificial lighting in cities can create "light pollution" which can have a detrimental effect on the love life of songbirds. It upsets their circadian rhythms which tell them when it is time to mate.
*~*~*~*
The Philippines have an incredible diversity of species, but that diversity is being severely imperiled by rampant illegal logging. The government has established a tree-planting program to try to stem the damage being caused.
*~*~*~*
The estuaries of Northern Ireland have long been a haven for over-wintering shorebirds, but recently, populations of nearly all these species are declining precipitously.
*~*~*~*
Migrant women and their children in Baltimore have a fellow-feeling for the migratory birds that pass through the area. They are volunteering their time to plant shrubs and flowers that feed and shelter the birds in Baltimore's Patterson Park as a part of the Audubon Center's Bird Ambassadors program.
*~*~*~*
A bee hobbyist in North Texas writes in "The Bee Pasture" about providing habitat for butterflies - specifically for the Hackberry Emperor.
*~*~*~*
There are many myths in various cultures throughout the world about gigantic, and usually angry, birds, some of them so big they could carry away elephants. No proof of the existence of any such bird has ever been found. They seem to be entirely inventions of our vivid imaginations.
*~*~*~*
On the other side of that myth equation is the story about the extinction of dinosaurs. Of course they are not extinct! They are all around us. We are hardly ever out of sight of one when we are outdoors. They are called "birds" and they are descendants of the theropod dinosaurs which included such predators as Tyrannosaurs and Velociraptors. The theropods' strategy for survival was to get smaller and smaller and it was a very successful strategy. Yes, that Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the top of the page is just a tiny theropod descendant!
*~*~*~*
The elusive Black-capped Petrel spends most of its life over the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Now, scientists are learning more about the bird's travels through the first-ever project to track them. This is a joint project of the U.S. Geological Survey, the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Clemson University, Grupo Jaragua in the Dominican Republic, and the American Bird Conservancy.
*~*~*~*
The water levels in the Colorado River Basin have dropped by alarming amounts in recent years. Most of the loss has been attributed to the severe drought gripping the West, but a new study indicates that at least part of the reason for the drop is a loss of groundwater.
 |
| Hummingbird traffic is picking up as the fall migration of the little birds gets into full swing. I'm seeing multiple birds around my yard every day now, including several males like this Ruby-throat enjoying a visit at my Hamelia shrub. There may be Rufous hummers among the visitors as well, but I can't absolutely confirm that. |
The makers of the rodenticide d-Con have agreed to pull their super-toxic products from retail shelves by early next year. This is a victory for conservation groups that have been campaigning for years to get this accomplished. The problem is that the product kills rodents very effectively, but often as those rodents are dying or dead, they are picked up and devoured by raptors or other predators and the poisons then kill them as well.
*~*~*~*
And we know that poisons can persist in the environment for a very long time. DDT was banned in the United States more than forty years ago and yet it is still killing birds in Michigan. Presence of the poison is attributed to a chemical-plant-turned-Superfund site in the area.
*~*~*~*
It was hoped that rains generated by El Nino this year might help to break the long and severe drought being suffered by California, but those hopes have pretty much been dashed. If the rains were coming, they should have arrived by now, but there is no rain in sight and the drought continues unabated.
*~*~*~*
Artificial lighting in cities can create "light pollution" which can have a detrimental effect on the love life of songbirds. It upsets their circadian rhythms which tell them when it is time to mate.
*~*~*~*
The Philippines have an incredible diversity of species, but that diversity is being severely imperiled by rampant illegal logging. The government has established a tree-planting program to try to stem the damage being caused.
*~*~*~*
The estuaries of Northern Ireland have long been a haven for over-wintering shorebirds, but recently, populations of nearly all these species are declining precipitously.
*~*~*~*
Migrant women and their children in Baltimore have a fellow-feeling for the migratory birds that pass through the area. They are volunteering their time to plant shrubs and flowers that feed and shelter the birds in Baltimore's Patterson Park as a part of the Audubon Center's Bird Ambassadors program.
*~*~*~*
A bee hobbyist in North Texas writes in "The Bee Pasture" about providing habitat for butterflies - specifically for the Hackberry Emperor.
*~*~*~*
There are many myths in various cultures throughout the world about gigantic, and usually angry, birds, some of them so big they could carry away elephants. No proof of the existence of any such bird has ever been found. They seem to be entirely inventions of our vivid imaginations.
*~*~*~*
On the other side of that myth equation is the story about the extinction of dinosaurs. Of course they are not extinct! They are all around us. We are hardly ever out of sight of one when we are outdoors. They are called "birds" and they are descendants of the theropod dinosaurs which included such predators as Tyrannosaurs and Velociraptors. The theropods' strategy for survival was to get smaller and smaller and it was a very successful strategy. Yes, that Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the top of the page is just a tiny theropod descendant!
*~*~*~*
The elusive Black-capped Petrel spends most of its life over the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Now, scientists are learning more about the bird's travels through the first-ever project to track them. This is a joint project of the U.S. Geological Survey, the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Clemson University, Grupo Jaragua in the Dominican Republic, and the American Bird Conservancy.
*~*~*~*
The water levels in the Colorado River Basin have dropped by alarming amounts in recent years. Most of the loss has been attributed to the severe drought gripping the West, but a new study indicates that at least part of the reason for the drop is a loss of groundwater.
Friday, August 1, 2014
The Thirteen Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian: A review
The Thirteen-Gun Salute by Patrick O'BrianMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The thirteen-gun salute refers to the number of volleys given in honor of an ambassador, an envoy, and that title here presages a tale of a diplomatic mission that Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin are assigned on behalf of England.
But first, we find Aubrey still sailing the Surprise as in the last book, The Letter of Marque. That changes rather quickly, although never quick enough for Jack, when he is reinstated to the Royal Navy because of his exploits on behalf of the nation as a privateer. He is once again "Captain" Jack Aubrey and all is right in his world.
Well, almost all. Being a part of the Royal Navy once again means he must leave his beloved Surprise behind. He is given command of the Diane, formerly a French vessel, which he captured in the last book, and he is sent to accompany his friend Maturin on a diplomatic mission that will take them to the South China Sea. There, Maturin is to aid and support the king's envoy in securing a treaty with the Malay court at Pulo Prabang, a treaty that will prevent links between Bonaparte and the Malay princes that would put English merchant shipping at risk.
At the Sultan's court, Maturin encounters two French agents who have been his nemesis in the past and who are now well-entrenched in the Sultan's good graces, and with whom he must find a way of dealing so that the mission can succeed. At the same time, the English envoy proves to be a fatuous, self-important man, sensitive to any perceived slight - perhaps not the best personality for an ambassador, but Stephen Maturin is nothing if not resourceful and he manages his behind-the-scenes role with his usual aplomb, ensuring that the necessary treaty can be achieved.
This is a departure from the usual arc of these stories in that there is no great sea battle recounted, no prizes to be won. Instead, the action is mostly of a quieter kind until near the end when a killer typhoon hits after the Diane has become intractably stuck on an uncharted reef. Aubrey and his men must abandon the ship and go ashore to wait out the storm.
But before that final excitement, we get to accompany Stephen Maturin on a quieter - but no less exciting to him and to like-minded readers - adventure when he climbs the Thousand Steps to a sacred crater where a community of Buddhists watches over a habitat that includes orangutans and many other fascinating species. It is the high point of his time in the Malay world.
During this voyage also, Maturin is anticipating the birth of a child. His wife, Diana, is expecting their first child, which he is completely convinced will be a girl and he longs for news from home which will confirm that for him.
But he never gets that confirmation and we have to leave him there on a desolate rock in the South China Sea along with Aubrey and all the other men of the Diane who managed to survive the storm as they plan to build a schooner to escape their predicament. We'll have to wait for number 14 in the series to see whether they succeed. (I strongly suspect that they will!)
View all my reviews
Thank God it's August!
The world of humans has had a rather hellacious month of July. With the people of the Middle East doing their best to kill each other off and wipe the planet clean of anyone who sees things differently from them; with Russia and its minions in the eastern part of Ukraine shooting down civilian airliners and then keeping away investigators and those who simply want to recover the human remains for two long weeks while those remains are exposed to the elements; with the haters in our own country converging on our southern border with assault rifles in hand in order to repel unarmed children who want nothing more than to turn themselves in to the Border Patrol and seek protection... All in all, it was a month, we would be happy to forget.
So, let's do that for a couple of minutes.
It's August, a new month with a clean slate. Let's start it off with a visit to the world of Simon's Cat. We haven't checked on that ever-hungry feline lately. I wonder what he's up to these days.
In a world full of changes, often for the worse, it's a comfort to know that Simon's Cat never changes. Indeed, that could be said of all cats. It's one thing in an uncertain world that we can depend upon.
So, let's do that for a couple of minutes.
It's August, a new month with a clean slate. Let's start it off with a visit to the world of Simon's Cat. We haven't checked on that ever-hungry feline lately. I wonder what he's up to these days.
In a world full of changes, often for the worse, it's a comfort to know that Simon's Cat never changes. Indeed, that could be said of all cats. It's one thing in an uncertain world that we can depend upon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)